End corruption at Ghana Mission

In our March issue, we ran a front page article on malfeasance we discovered at the Ghana Mission/Consulate in New York City regarding the issue of visas to Ghana. We sent a note to the Mission for its response and reaction to the allegation, but we never heard anything, and we went to press with the story. For some reason and for reasons best known to someone within the Ghana Mission, all the newspapers that carried the news went missing as soon as they were delivered on the afternoon of March 15. There was no rush to pick them up, but were removed. We’ve been in the business for too long to know the pick-up rate at any given location. Someone must have decided the front page piece was not in their interest and ‘hi- jacked’ or thrashed the copies. Incidentally, that was not the first time we wrote an exposé about the Mission.

Sometime ago when the building was infested with rats, we wrote a front page article about it. We got a cold shoulder from some individuals and lost a few friends then, but even at that time nobody tampered with the papers. Why now? It is shallow criminal thinking to remove the paper while the majority is distributed in all five boroughs and elsewhere in the metro area. It is disheartening that while the new administration is working to stem the mounting corruption in the country, some here who are supposed to hold high the mantle of discipline are working hard to reverse the trend. Even as they are removing Amandla from the Mission for fear of being exposed, they have not relented. We know that $100 Money Orders have been peddled at the Mission to visa applicants with a $10.00 surcharge. We are not sure this is legal or official and would suggest an investigation to stem the negative impact on the Mission and Ghana.

Foreign missions in Ghana, including the U.S. Ambassador complain about the ripple effects of corruption and how businesses from their countries are unwilling to go and invest there. This must sound a note of caution to those who have decided to truncate the efforts made by the government at home. We would suggest a full-scale investigation of the Mission before things get out of hand. At age 60 the only reputation Ghana has been able to acquire is corruption but it must end now.